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Real-time Log Monitoring using Flask and Socket.IO

Table of Contents

Introduction

This project implements a real-time log file monitoring system using Flask and Flask-SocketIO.

It allows users to visualize live updates from a server-side log file directly in a web browser.

The application behaves like the Unix tail -f command — watching a log file for new lines and sending them to the client immediately — but implemented completely in Python and streamed to a web interface.

Features

  • Real-Time Log Monitoring: Continuously monitors a log file and streams new lines to clients in real-time.
  • Socket.IO Integration: Uses WebSockets (through Socket.IO) for efficient two-way communication between the server and connected clients.
  • Tail -f Functionality in Python: Replicates the behavior of tail -f natively in Python.
  • Web Interface: Lightweight and responsive frontend to view logs without command-line access.
  • Initial Log Fetching: On connection, the last N lines (configurable) of the log file are sent to the client.
  • Error Handling: Gracefully handles cases where the log file does not exist or cannot be read.

Installation

  1. Clone the repository:

    git clone https://github.com/Logeswaran7/Unix-tail--f-python-implementation.git
cd Unix Tail --f Python Implementation

  2. Install required dependencies:

    pip install flask flask-socketio

Usage

  1. Ensure you have a log.txt file in the same directory (or adjust the path in the code).

  2. Start the server:

    python log_monitor.py

  3. Open your web browser and navigate to:

    'http://localhost:5000'

  4. Append or write new lines into log.txt — they will instantly appear on the web client!

  5. Example to manually append a new log entry:

    for i in {1..100}; do echo "$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') Simulated log file entry #$i" >> log.txt; sleep 1; done

    After running the above command, you will immediately see "New log entry at (current date and time)" appear in the web page without needing to refresh.

Results

Example:
When new log entries are written to log.txt, they instantly appear in the browser. You can watch a video demonstration of this functionality below:

Live Log Monitoring Video

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Feel free to use, modify, and share it!